As always I expect a certain amount of backlash for using a controversial word “nipples” (in case you missed it) in the title of this post but my chill, laid-back, westcoast attitude thinks “meh, if it gets people to the content and that content helps them figure something out that’s not working in their own campaign, I’ve succeeded.”

So, before you get all bent out of shape about the title, read this piece, digest the info, offer up some constructive, useful, value-added advice in your comments. Saying “I don’t agree” makes you sound like a twerp and offers nothing to the reader. Think “value” when posting please.

I was running this morning with a friend of mine who owns a very popular brick and mortar company in our town. They, like so many other businesses, have appointed a member of their staff to take care of the social media marketing.

As the owner, she is un-involved with the process and wasn’t able to tell me what the appointee did on Twitter or Facebook. She just knew that her staff member was “using social media”.

Now, to be fair, they have had some success. They post daily and have 255 members on their FB page which isn’t too bad considering the size of the town.

From a marketing standpoint they’re doing ok. From a social media standpoint they have not even scratched the surface of the medium.

A strategist doesn’t just randomly post stuff to Facebook and Twitter and hope to attract the right people. With every new client a strategist is charged with the task of determining the demographic, identifying what they want to know/learn etc. Finding out what they’re talking about online. Where do they spend their money? What do they get from the site when they visit? Do they share information they’ve found with others? What are the competition doing and are they successfully engaging clients?

The list of questions goes on for quite some time. I would go so far as to say that the collection of data on the user is as important in social media as it is in traditional marketing. If you were to walk into an ad agency today and ask who’s buying counter-top composting machines (assuming they advertise for the company that sells them of course) they would be able to tell you, accurately, who their target market is.

The problem with a willy-nilly social media campaign is that the net is too big. Just putting out random information without identifying the market means that you hit people who don’t care what you’re doing. While that might sound ok, there’s a chance that, in doing so, you’re annoying people and since social media is a two-way conversation those annoyed people may just decide to lash out.

On the flip side, knowing who you’re selling to can be a great advantage in the marketplace. If I’m selling composting machines and I know that my biggest market are yuppies who live in the city I need to put information on my site that appeals to them. For example maybe I would have a blog article about how some big cities are using unique ways to deal with their waste. Or how Vancouver, BC has a Green Cities Initiative to become the greenest city on earth by 2020. Those are, quite likely, articles that would appeal to someone who is composting.

Strategically, knowing the demographic offers up a bunch of other advantages. A good example is Facebook. If you want to hit the 18-30 crowd you should probably post at 7pm or 8pm when they’re online. There are plenty of studies available online that will allow you to determine the best times to post to social media to get the most eyeballs in your desired demographic.

So, if you work at, or own a company that has assigned a staff member to “do” social media take a moment and find out how engaged your online community is. Are they commenting on your posts? Are they suggesting interesting articles? Are they re-tweeting, re-posting, re-marking to what you’re putting out there? If not then you may want to start thinking about bringing in a strategist that can help you on your way to significantly more engagement.

A really great way to determine this without putting a lot of effort into the process initially is simply ask yourself “are we providing value to the people visiting our website?” If the answer is no then you definitely need to speak to a strategist BEFORE you go it alone.

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Design Stuff

This client needed a site that integrated with online travel agents and merged calendars for guest bookings. While the design is simple and elegant, the backend is very robust. I added an additional solution to give hotel staff on the ground the ability to take bookings over the phone or in person without sacrificing the calendar sync.

This site was created to compliment North and West Vancouver Realtor, Elizabeth Dyer's, growing real estate business. Liz felt that providing people with real experiences from the North Shore would help them get a true feel for what it's like to live in this amazing place. The site is growing daily with new posts and new tech like vlog posts!

I created this site for my daughter Layne who is just about to graduate high school. We worked on it together as a tool to help her realize her dream of becoming an Interior Designer. The site is used for post-secondary admissions and scholarship opportunities. It also showcases many of Layne's extra curricular activities.

Jacquie McCarnan is the National Director of Social Media and Online Outreach for the Women In Leadership Foundation. She is also "keeper of the brand". With chapters in 4 Canadian cities, the WIL online presence is an extremely intricate part of the Foundation's overall community outreach.
We conceived and built individual sites for each chapter, trained each chapter rep and provide continued support through the national head office site.
By giving the chapters some autonomy to construct their own content we have seen a considerable increase in online engagement; not only from the website(s) but from all social media outlets as well.
We also initiated, planned and constructed processes to make the social media engagement a turn-key solution for each chapter since all chapter members are volunteers.
In less than a year WIL has become the most robust online presence of all Canadian women-centric non-profits. (big round of applause :)

“I started Social Media Canada in 2008 to help others realize the power of Social Media to affect change. Since then so much has changed. Social Media is now used to inform, to condemn, to inspire, to do just about anything. There's a lot to know and I'm here to help you learn!”